Inauguration of the Last Section of the First Phase of the Elevated Bicentennial Viaduct
December 16, 2010
The governor of the State of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, opened the last section of the first phase of the Elevated Bicentennial Viaduct on 24 November. Along with other personalities, accompanying him in attending the ceremony were the Communications secretary, Gerardo Ruiz Esparza; as well as Jose Andres de Oteyza, president of the OHL Group in Mexico; and Juan Osuna, managing director of OHL Concessions.
The newly opened section, the 5 km Lago de Guadalupe-Tepalcapa section completes the 22 km of the first phase of the Viaduct ( VEB). The 96,000 road users that the TAG has already gained as VEB traffic may now go from Toreo to Tepalcapa with an average journey time of 20 minutes, compared to the two hours necessary to travel the same journey via other routes.
Enrique Pena Nieto pointed out to the over 5,000 people attending the ceremony, the success of the strategic alliance of the State of Mexico with the business world, to whom he required “that they commit to carrying out the works within the agreed timeframes, as OHL have done in this one we are now opening”.
Jose Andres de Oteyza explained that the VEB has three qualities that make it an emblematic project: the ability of the direction of its roads to be changed; the teletoll, whose state-of-the-art technology prevents congestion at the entries and exits; and it is environmentally friendly because it is illuminated with solar power. The VEB is considered the most important work to be opened in the State of Mexico in the year that commemorates the bicentennial of the country’s independence. Its first phase required a total investment of 9,300 million pesos, of which 6,500 million correspond to the construction of the work, and the rest to other aspects, among which is the teletoll. It also required the construction of 1,525 structural pieces: 739 columns and 786 beams.